Joel Rotz has spent a lifetime working in agriculture. He began as a dairy farmer in Franklin County for twenty years before becoming employed by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. He held many positions in the Government Affairs Division before becoming the Government Affairs and Communications Division Manager to end his twenty-seven-year career at the Farm Bureau. Since retirement from the Farm Bureau, he has recently become an employee of Penn State and serves as the Farmer Liaison for the Agriculture and Environment Center in the College of Agricultural Sciences. Joel is a RULE X graduate and worked to continue legislative funding and secure a more stable future for RULE by successfully advocating to move the program under Penn State Extension.
His RULE X experience provided insight into the broader range of rural leadership issues outside of agriculture but, most importantly, challenged his perspective on issues through working with a large diversity of understanding and life experience represented by those in his class. Leadership requires the ability to understand and empathize with those who bring perspectives vastly different than your own.
Joel has a BA in Organizational Management from Eastern University and resides in Mechanicsburg, PA, with his wife of 45 years. They have three adult children, and their empty nest is filled with the presence of the most spoiled child of all, their dog, Wally.
